On Thu, 31 Mar 1994, Andrews Peter F wrote:
> I have just received new glazing rubber for the windshield of my Bugeye.
> I have a number of candidate glass and chrome surrounds to pick from but
> I need to disassemble the old and reassemble the new.
>
> How difficult is this task? Any hints?
>
> Pete Andrews 1959 AH Sprite Mk1 AN5L/18575
> andrews_pf@salem.ge.com 1961 AH Sprite MK1 AN5L/44591
>
Getting the old glass out of the frame is no problem at all. Take a 6
pound hammer and... OK, I am kidding. Cut the rubber out and remove the
glass. But first (old joke about printed instructions for defusing a
bomb: "Unscrew ring A from the fuse. But first...") note that the rubber
molding is assymetrical; one side has a locking strip you insert as the
last step. Be sure you put the new rubber in with the locking groove on
the proper side of the windshield.
Basically, you need two people (one to wrestle the glass in and one to
hold the frame still), rubber lubricant, a flat work surface at waist
height (I put carpet on the center island of the kitchen), stiff Hyde
putty knives, a couple of dull old table knives (putty and table knives
for prying the rubber), and enough nerve to continue even though any
mistake can ruin a new $180 windshield.
There are, theoretically, three approaches. 1) put rubber on glass, and
install in frame; 2) put rubber in frame, and install glass; 3) put rubber
and glass in frame together improvising and cursing from start to finish.
In principle, the second way should allow you to use the rope trick,
windshield version, in which you put a strong string all the way around
the groove of the rubber, bringing the ends out together. Then press the
glass against the rubber, have your helper pull on the ends of the string,
and this should pull the rubber lip over the glass, slick as can be, as
you pull the string from the groove. Great idea, has worked for me on
other cars, but I could not make it work here. I used method 3.
I started by inserting one of the lower corners of the glass and the
rubber into the aluminum frame. I then worked along both edges from the
corner prying the rubber into the frame. My rubber appeared too long to
fit into the frame. If you put it in dry, you may work all the way around
to the last bit, and have this loop of excess rubber hanging out. The dry
rubber won't slip along the frame to let you adjust things. So lube it
well with something like silicon that won't dry out quickly, and push the
rubber back toward the starting point as you work each section into the
frame.
Basically, just work each side, inch by inch, until you reach the opposite
bottom corner. I tried to do this without splitting the rubber anywhere.
However, when the last bottom corner was about to go in, it split through
the outer lip. It makes no difference to anything, because it closes back
up when you push the final bit of rubber in, and the job would have been
easier if I had deliberately split the bottom corner where the job was
going to end.
So if it looks near the end as if it would be easier if you split the
rubber lip part of the way on the final sharp bottom corner, do it,
because it probably will split anyway.
When the main rubber is in place, spritzer the locking strip with silicon,
and roll it in. I think I used one of those rollers they make for putting
new plastic screen mesh into sliding screen doors.
Above all, though, don't break the glass (sorry, but I couldn't resist
that...that...well, wise crack).
In retrospect, the whole job reminded me of the instructions that came
with a tuned exhaust system I installed on my Corvair in 1964: "at this
point, it will appear we have sent you the wrong part, which cannot
possibly fit. But it will." At some point, you are likely to think that
the rubber gasket is too large, and cannot fit. It will, though, if you
work at it. I think it will, anyway.
Ray Gibbons Dept. of Molecular Physiology & Biophysics
Univ. of Vermont College of Medicine, Burlington, VT
gibbons@northpole.med.uvm.edu (802) 656-8910
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